Unforbidden Truth

On this episode, I speak with convicted multiple murderer Paul Merhige.

Paul Michael Merhige is a Florida multiple murderer responsible for a deadly shooting that took place on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009, at a family gathering in Jupiter, Florida. During the celebration, Merhige left the residence, retrieved a firearm from his vehicle, and returned, opening fire on his relatives. Four family members were killed, including a six-year-old child, while two other relatives were wounded. Investigators discovered that Merhige had a history of hostility and violent behavior toward members of his family, with tensions reportedly extending back several years. The...

In this episode of Unforbidden Truth, I sit down with Robert John Bardo, the man convicted of murdering 21-year-old actress Rebecca Schaeffer in 1989. Best known for her role on the television sitcom My Sister Sam, Schaeffer was a rising Hollywood star whose life was tragically cut short. Bardo's obsession with the actress ultimately led to her murder, a case that shocked the entertainment industry and brought national attention to the dangers of celebrity stalking.

During this interview, Bardo discusses his life, his perspective on the events that led to his conviction, and his experiences living with the consequences...

In this episode, I sit down with Breck Buchanan to hear his story firsthand. Buchanan was charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony following the death of his stepfather, John, whom he referred to as Scott. Buchanan entered an Alford plea as part of a plea agreement that resulted in a 103-year sentence, with all but 38 years and 7 months suspended.

During our conversation, Buchanan discusses the circumstances surrounding the killing, his relationship with his stepfather, and why he says he was afraid of him. He also shares his perspective on...

Robert Hogans was convicted in Michigan in connection with the September 1990 abduction and killing of Pamela Kay Bandy. Bandy was abducted from a car wash in Pontiac, Michigan, and Hogans placed her in the trunk of her own Cadillac. He then drove around with her trapped inside for approximately six days. During that time, Bandy was unable to obtain adequate food or water and ultimately died from a combination of starvation, dehydration, and methanol poisoning after ingesting windshield-washer fluid.

When Pontiac police stopped Hogans on September 24, 1990, on an unrelated outstanding warrant, they discovered Bandy's body in the trunk...

Heather McCollum is serving a life sentence, whom is eligible for release after 51 years, along with a consecutive five-year sentence for arson to be served at 30%, following her conviction for the 2012 first-degree murder of John Poteete and the subsequent arson of his home.


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Christa Pike is an American woman convicted of a notorious 1995 murder in Tennessee. At 18, she became the youngest woman on death row in the United States. Pike, along with fellow Job Corps students, lured Colleen Slemmer to an isolated location where Pike carried out a prolonged and especially violent attack. The case gained widespread attention due to the brutality involved, including testimony that Pike kept a portion of the victim’s skull. She was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, where she remains on Tennessee’s death row.

Tadaryl Shipp and Shadolla Peterson were Pike’s co-d...

Christa Pike is an American woman convicted of a notorious 1995 murder in Tennessee. At 18, she became the youngest woman on death row in the United States. Pike, along with fellow Job Corps students, lured Colleen Slemmer to an isolated location where Pike carried out a prolonged and especially violent attack. The case gained widespread attention due to the brutality involved, including testimony that Pike kept a portion of the victim’s skull. She was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, where she remains on Tennessee’s death row.

Tadaryl Shipp and Shadolla Peterson were Pike’s co-d...

This is the first installment of a two-part interview featuring Steven Wiggins, a death row inmate in Tennessee. Wiggins was convicted of fatally shooting Sergeant Daniel Baker from the Dickson County Sheriff's Office. Following Baker's murder, Wiggins attempted to incinerate his body. When unsuccessful, he proceeded to set fire to Baker's patrol car. Wiggins is currently awaiting execution on Tennessee's death row.

www.youtube.com/@TimelessMysteriess

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Christa Pike is an American woman convicted of a notorious 1995 murder in Tennessee. At 18, she became the youngest woman on death row in the United States. Pike, along with fellow Job Corps students, lured Colleen Slemmer to an isolated location where Pike carried out a prolonged and especially violent attack. The case gained widespread attention due to the brutality involved, including testimony that Pike kept a portion of the victim’s skull. She was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, where she remains on Tennessee’s death row.

Tadaryl Shipp and Shadolla Peterson were Pike’s co-d...

Christa Pike is an American woman convicted of a notorious 1995 murder in Tennessee. At 18, she became the youngest woman on death row in the United States. Pike, along with fellow Job Corps students, lured Colleen Slemmer to an isolated location where Pike carried out a prolonged and especially violent attack. The case gained widespread attention due to the brutality involved, including testimony that Pike kept a portion of the victim’s skull. She was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, where she remains on Tennessee’s death row.


Tadaryl Shipp and Shadolla Peterson were Pike...

The case of Mickey Douglas centers on a deadly shooting at a Coney Island–style restaurant in Detroit in July 2020, where Douglas opened fire inside the establishment after a brief interaction reportedly triggered by a comment about his girlfriend. The attack killed three victims—Brian Jackson, Carnell Watts, and Courtney Willis—and left a fourth person seriously injured.

Prosecutors charged Douglas with multiple felonies, including three counts of first-degree murder and assault with intent to murder, and evidence showed he had a prior violent criminal history and was on parole at the time. He was later convicted of second...

Isabella Young is a cult survivor who has rebuilt her life after escaping from a high-control, religious group that she joined with the belief it was a spiritual community under the guidance of a spiritual teacher. What began as a search for healing, purpose, and belonging became a fight for sanity, truth, and freedom from years of mind control, emotional abuse, and strict obedience to a charismatic and deranged leader. Over time, she recognized that emotional, psychological, and spiritual tactics were being used to control cult members, including cutting off contact with family, brainwashing, and punishments for independent thinking and...

The criminal case of Eric Hainstock centers on a 15-year-old student who, in September 2006, brought a shotgun and handgun into Weston High School and fatally shot his principal, John Klang, after a confrontation over disciplinary issues. Hainstock had a history of behavioral problems and claimed he had been bullied, though investigations found mixed evidence supporting that claim. Following his arrest, he was charged as an adult and later convicted of first-degree intentional homicide; in 2008, he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after a lengthy period, reflecting the severity of the crime and the court’s vi...

According to court records and regional news coverage, Mendy Kent was one of several individuals charged in Mobile County, Alabama, in connection with a long-running sexual abuse and exploitation case involving members of her extended family. Prosecutors alleged that the group participated in the abuse of minors over a period of years, and the case became widely known in the area because of the number of people implicated and the disturbing nature of the accusations. The investigation uncovered evidence that led to multiple arrests and prosecutions tied to what authorities described as an organized pattern of abuse.

Kent’s...

Wendy Holland is an Alabama woman who became publicly known after a broader criminal investigation involving members of her extended family in Mobile County. The investigation gained attention during the time of the 2012 disappearance of her teenage relative, Brittney Wood, a case that drew significant media coverage and later became the subject of true crime documentaries.

As a result of the investigation, Wendy Holland was convicted of charges related to sexual abuse and incest involving minors. Her convictions stemmed from evidence uncovered by authorities during that period, and she was sentenced under Alabama law for those offenses. Brittney...

Wendy Holland is an Alabama woman who became publicly known after a broader criminal investigation involving members of her extended family in Mobile County. The investigation gained attention during the time of the 2012 disappearance of her teenage relative, Brittney Wood, a case that drew significant media coverage and later became the subject of true crime documentaries.

As a result of the investigation, Wendy Holland was convicted of charges related to sexual abuse and incest involving minors. Her convictions stemmed from evidence uncovered by authorities during that period, and she was sentenced under Alabama law for those offenses. Brittney...

Lazale Ashby is a Connecticut inmate whose legal saga stems from the December 2002 rape and murder of 21-year-old Elizabeth Garcia in her Hartford apartment; DNA evidence and his own statements led to his arrest and a 2008 conviction on multiple counts, including capital felony, for which he was sentenced to death — making him one of the state’s youngest death row prisoners — but after Connecticut abolished the death penalty, that sentence was converted to life plus 125 years. However, in 2020 the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned his conviction because his rights were violated at the original trial, and Ashby later pleaded guilty in 2023 and re...

Andrew speaks with recently released California prisoner, Rebecca Martinez. Martinez was released after serving a 32-month prison sentence. Rebecca Martinez has been convicted of burglary, vehicle theft, battery on an officer, murder, accessory to murder, kidnapping, carjacking, battery, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and felony evading.

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Steven David Lampley is a former police officer and undercover sex-crimes (SVU) detective with more than two decades of law-enforcement experience who has since become a bestselling true-crime author, speaker, and expert on deception and forensic investigation. He’s worked high-profile cases featured on television programs such as America’s Most Wanted and Investigation Discovery.

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When he was 15 (later described as 16 when sentenced), Betournay was tried and convicted for killing his 14-year-old sister (April Betournay) and her 14-year-old friend (Beth Garbe) on December 14, 1994. He bound the girls’ wrists and ankles with duct tape, then sealed plastic bags over their heads — suffocating them. He later confessed. Although his defense argued that mental illness and diminished capacity should preclude a first-degree murder charge, a judge ruled he was competent to stand trial as an adult. A jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder after 6½ days of trial and about seven hours of deliberation.

At se...

American Skyjacker (2025) is a true-crime action documentary that chronicles the story of Martin McNally, who in June 1972 hijacked an American Airlines Boeing 727, demanded $500,000 in ransom, and parachuted out of the back — modeling his crime after the infamous D.B. Cooper hijacking. McNally narrates the tale in his own words, with cinematic reenactments showing not just the hijacking but the manhunt, his prison escape attempts, and a later hijacking in 1978.

Website / Screening Information
www.americanskyjacker.com

http://cinedump.com/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/americanskyjacker

Rotten Tomatoes
https://www.rottentomatoes.co...

Please note that the live was done on a cell phone, due to Randy being unable to access a laptop/tablet.

Ronnie Lee Gardner was a convicted murderer from Utah whose violent criminal history and dramatic courtroom escape attempt made him one of the state’s most infamous prisoners. Born in 1961, Gardner endured a troubled childhood marked by abuse, neglect, and frequent run-ins with the law. By his early twenties, he was already incarcerated for violent crimes. In 1985, while being transported to court for a hearing on a murder charge, Gardner attempted to escape and fatally shot attorney Mi...

In March 1998, Jeffrey Franklin, a 17-year-old high school student from Huntsville, Alabama, brutally attacked his family in their home in the Camelot subdivision. Armed with a hatchet, sledgehammer, and knife, Franklin killed his mother, Cynthia, and father, Gerald, and severely injured three of his younger siblings. Two other siblings managed to escape the attack unharmed. When police arrived, they found a horrifying crime scene described as one of the most gruesome in Huntsville’s history. Franklin, who had fled in his parents’ car, was captured a short time later after a police chase.

 Investigators later uncovered Franklin’s journal...

In April 2015, Amanda Taylor, a 24-year-old woman from Virginia, committed a shocking and highly publicized murder that would earn her the nickname “The Selfie Killer.” Still grieving the suicide of her husband, Rex Taylor, Amanda blamed his father, Charles Taylor, for his death. On April 4, she and her friend Sean Ball went to Charles’s home in Montgomery County under the pretense of a visit. Once inside, Amanda brutally stabbed Charles more than 30 times with a knife, while Ball helped restrain him, killing him in cold blood.

After the murder, Amanda displayed a chilling lack of remorse. She posted...

In January 2014, Julie Lane Kennedy Griffith (age 55) was found dead in her home in Reidland (near Paducah). Investigators later determined that she had been shot three times in the chest, and her house was then set on fire in what was believed to be a cover-up of the murder. Two dogs inside the residence also died in the blaze.

Her husband, Keith Griffith, was later charged with her murder, arson, tampering with evidence, and animal cruelty, among other charges. In February 2015, the trial ended in a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury. In January 2016, Keith Griffith pleaded guilty t...

Steven Nigg is a former federal inmate best known for his 2016 assault on notorious sex offender Larry Nassar’s fellow high-profile prisoner, former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle. While serving time for a firearms conviction at a low-security prison in Colorado, Nigg became enraged that Fogle was housed with other inmates in relative comfort despite his crimes against children. In January 2016, Nigg attacked Fogle in the prison yard, punching him repeatedly and leaving him with injuries to his face and neck. Prison officials quickly intervened, and Nigg was placed in disciplinary segregation after the assault.

The incident drew national at...

Luis Bracamontes, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was convicted of murdering two sheriff’s deputies in Sacramento, California, in 2014. Bracamontes, who had previously been deported multiple times, carried out a violent shooting spree that left Deputy Danny Oliver and Detective Michael Davis Jr. dead. During his 2018 trial, he showed no remorse, even boasting about the killings and threatening to kill more officers in the future. His violent past and repeated illegal reentries into the United States drew widespread national attention.

In 2018, a jury found Bracamontes guilty of murder, attempted murder, and other charges. He was sentenced to death in...

In April 2006, 23-year-old Christopher Lampkin was murdered in a Salem apartment, shot execution-style, and dismembered by Leonardo Garcia Gonzalez and Victor Gonzalez. His remains were stuffed into a duffel bag and fed to pigs at a Yamhill County farm, where police later recovered partial remains in a feed barrel. The killers were ordered to pay Lampkin’s family $1 million, while charges against the farm owner and apartment complex were ultimately dismissed.

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Theresa Knorr is convicted of murdering 2 of her 6 children. Theresa has been married a total of 4 times. Her first husband, Clifford Sanders died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head, inflicted by Theresa. Theresa was acquitted of his murder. Theresa was known to be physically, psychologically and verbally abusive to her children. She would abuse and torture her kids in different ways, including: throwing knives at them, burning them with cigarettes, beating them and force feeding them. Theresa would go on to murder her two daughters, Suesan (17) and Sheila (20). Theresa is currently serving two life sentences. She...

Please note the prisoners were on speaker phone, on a prison tablet, so that's why it is so loud/why the quality is the way it is. This was a live interview I conducted on tik tok, which i occasionally do on Tuesday's. @unforbiddentruthpodcast is my username.

Donald Ray Middlebrooks

In 1987, Donald Ray Middlebrooks, along with his then-teenage wife Tammy Middlebrooks and accomplice Robert Brewington, kidnapped and brutally tortured 14-year-old Kerrick Majors in East Nashville. The attack followed Majors accidentally breaking a vase at a makeshift flea market, and descended into a racially charged and horrific...

Prentiss Williams, of Toledo, Ohio, ultimately pleaded guilty to four murders committed in the mid‑1990s—specifically those of Shelley Johnson, Robert Hendricks, Carmita Dickey, and Jonathan Booker—and was also implicated in a jail incident in which he obtained a weapon and fired shots (with no one injured) after a counselor smuggled contraband to him.

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Christopher “Life” Willars is a renowned motivational speaker, prison‑rights and mental‑health advocate, and successful social‑media content creator who, after spending 17 years incarcerated, emerged to co‑found and lead a cosmetology vocational school outside Atlanta called Lasting Layers of Beauty with his wife. He also founded The Life Unit, providing re‑entry support and coaching to those affected by the criminal justice system, helping countless individuals find resilience, purpose, and transformation.

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Peter Vronsky is a Canadian historian, true crime author, and filmmaker specializing in serial killers and criminal history. He has extensively interviewed serial killer Richard Cottingham, also known as the "Torso Killer," and has worked on uncovering Cottingham’s previously unknown crimes, contributing to cold-case investigations and appearing in related documentaries like Netflix’s Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer.

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https://www.petervronsky.org/

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On June 30, 2008, in the Circuit Court of the City of Portsmouth, Demetrius L. Neely was convicted on multiple drug‑ and firearm‑related counts. Those convictions included: possession of cocaine with intent to distribute (second offense), possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a Schedule I/II controlled substance while in possession of a firearm, and possession of marijuana. For these crimes, he received a total sentence of 50 years and six months, with nine years suspended.

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Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is an American former zoo operator and convicted felon who gained international fame as the eccentric, flamboyant star of the Netflix docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (2020). He owned and operated the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, where he bred and exhibited big cats and other exotic animals. Known for his wild personality, outlandish style, and outspoken behavior, Joe Exotic became infamous not only for his controversial animal practices but also for his feud with animal rights activist Carole Baskin. In 2020, he was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison...

In 2006 in Cleveland, Ohio, 16-year-old Victor Mercado allegedly shot and killed a man named Anderson. Mercado was identified as a suspect based on eyewitness descriptions. Mercado was convicted and was facing life in prison but was sentenced to 18 years.

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Martha Ann Freeman is a Tennessee resident who, along with Rafael DeJesus Rocha‑Perez, was convicted by a Davidson County jury of first-degree, premeditated murder in the April 2005 slaying of her husband, Jeffrey Freeman. Neighbors reported that she behaved strangely, both were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole.

Rafael DeJesus Rocha‑Perez, also convicted in the same case, was revealed to have been her boyfriend at the time, secretly living in the Freeman residence. Forensics connected both to the crime through evidence like DNA and witness accounts placing Rocha‑Perez near the sc...

Michael Curtis Reynolds is an American convicted of domestic terrorism after attempting to orchestrate a plot in 2005 to bomb U.S. energy infrastructure, including oil pipelines and refineries. Posing as a terrorist sympathizer online, Reynolds sought assistance from what he believed were al-Qaeda operatives—who were actually part of an FBI sting operation. He was arrested in Idaho while trying to collect $40,000 to fund the attacks and was later convicted on multiple charges, including attempting to provide material support to terrorists and possessing explosive devices. Reynolds, who has a history of mental health issues, was sentenced to 30 years in federal pr...

Donald Ray Middlebrooks is a convicted murderer from Tennessee who was sentenced to death for the 1987 racially motivated killing of 14-year-old Kerrick Majors, a Black teenager. Along with two other white men, Middlebrooks participated in the brutal torture and murder of Majors, who was beaten, stabbed multiple times, and burned with cigarettes in a wooded area in Nashville. The crime was widely recognized as a hate crime, marked by extreme violence and racial hatred. Middlebrooks was identified as the ringleader and was convicted in 1988; his death sentence was upheld despite decades of legal appeals and debates over the fairness of...

Hart D. Fisher is an American horror crime author, comic-book writer, and publisher best known for founding Boneyard Press and creating the controversial “Jeffrey Dahmer: An Unauthorized Biography of a Serial Killer” comic in 1992 

He’s also dubbed “the most dangerous man in comics” in the ’90s for pushing adult-themed horror/crime titles and later expanded into film, poetry, and a horror streaming channel called American Horrors 

https://linktr.ee/americanhorrorstv

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